“The competition starts now,” Simon said at the beginning of the episode. I guess the last four weeks have been pretend. Sixty will become 24! No more joking around, this is serious.

We've got four groups; teens, young adults, over 25 and groups. Only six acts in each group will move on. Each group will get one mentor. I call this pop culture calculus 101.

First group to get the news were the young adults. Right away, they called chetah face, I mean Cece Frey, up to tell her that she’s through. Then they told Willie Jones, Jennel Garcia, Nick Youngerman, Paige Thomas, and then Jillian Jensen that they are also moving forward.

Many hopefuls like Ally Brooke were given the pink slip right before Simon said that many of them deserved to be there.

There weren’t too many surprises here. I think it was fairly clear who would make it and who would not. I also think that this group has some of the strongest talent.

In a group that’s a little less cut and dry, we have the over 25’s. The over 25’s haven’t been shown nearly as much as the young adult group so there is a little more suspense to this one.

Jason Brock, Daryl Black, Tara Simon, Tate Stevens and Vino Alan, will join Maryland native David Correy in the final six to represent the over 25’s.

Here’s where the math gets a little blurry. They let through three acts; Sister C, Dope Crisis, and Emblem3. Given that, as far as the groups go, we’ve only seen Sister C and Emblem3; they were no brainers. But Dope Crisis was a wild card.

The final category was the teens. Due to their age, this one was the hardest to announce.

They delicately told Beatrice Miller, James Tanner, Carly Rose Sonenclar, Diamond White, Reed Deming and Arin Ray that they will be going to the judges house. This group had the most upsets, as many front-runners gave way to a few of the underdog contestants.

Well, that’s it! That's the top 24. Oh wait, there’s a what? Of course, there’s a twist. Britney said that there was too much talent.

They pulled in different performers to make three different groups. This is where the math falls right into place. They created a boy band, a girl group and a hip-hop trio. Relieved as they must have been, you know they were thinking, "I have to work with this fool now!" (No, Just me?)

Now that we know who the final 24 acts are, the only real suspense is who the mentors will be. The judges sit around waiting for the call.

Britney says that she wants the teens. Guess which group she got? The teens! Demi says that she wants the young adults. Well, she too gets her wish.

Simon gets to mentor the groups, which he seems hesitant but optimistic about. L.A., in a moment that I’m sure wasn’t staged, slams his phone down when he learns he has the over 25s.

Apparently "The X Factor" rented out P Diddy’s old boat, because that's what the groups were riding in on their way to Simon’s palatial palace in Miami. They clap and scream as Simon also pulled out Marc Anthony. He says that each group will cut two acts so that there will just be four. (More math!)

On the other side of the U.S., The young adults are driving up to Demi’s LA penthouse. Demi’s secret weapon to help them is Nick Jonas.

Not far away, the teens went to Britney’s California house where they find out that they’ll be working with Will.I.Am for the day.

The over 25’s go to Beverly hills to find out they’ll be working with the reluctant L.A. Reid. He makes it known that he is not very happy and says that there are no standouts on his team. Not exactly a winning attitude. But then Justin Bieber comes out and everyone is happy.

In the second half of the episode, we see Demi and Simon’s categories duke it out for the final spots.

Demi has a pretty hard decision ahead because all of her acts are really good. The only one that I think is lacking is Nick Youngerman who decided to rap Ke$ha's "Tik Tok." He’s good but I think that he’s clearly the weakest of the bunch.

The high note was when Demi told Cece that she can come off as unlikable. I was pleased that she told her right to her face what I was thinking. Cece came back to sing “Sexy and I Know It.”

She acted very demure and more vulnerable. She combined that new attitude with her old sass and it actually created magic. Only time will tell if it’s sincere or not but she promised to get rid of the animal print, so bring on the new Cece.

Over in Miami, Simon was deciding which two groups he needed to cut. What was surprising here was that the groups they had just formed were actually better than the already established ones.

The new boy bad was fun, and while they weren’t the best vocally, I think that young girls would buy their albums for their energy alone. Simon said that they were “naive,” but meant it in a good way.

The new girl group was my favorite. They were all so strong on their own, but combined, they were even stronger. Simon seamed incredibly happy with them and said that they have gone further than he thought they would.

We have to wait another episode to see who gets into the spots. We also get to see Britney and L.A.’s categories battle it out. What did you think? Were you happy with who made the final 24? Did you think there were any upsets? And were you upset when you found out that the contestants don’t actually stay at the judges' homes and have sleep-overs?

So "Dancing With the Stars" has finally succumbed to that reality-show milestone of putting together and "All-Star" edition. TV Lust recapper Amy Watts gives her take on how the returning dancers will do this season (premiering 8 p.m. Sept. 24).